Review by Steve Mackrell for Mark Aspen (October 2024)
uriouser and curiouser. Such were the thoughts of the child protagonist in this inventive interpretation of Alice in Wonderland by YAT (Youth Action Theatre) at Hampton Hill Theatre. However, in this version, Alice’s curiosity is roused, not by falling down a rabbit hole, but by falling through the screen of her video game.
Asha Gill has taken on the challenge of adapting this familiar yet surreal story of imagination into a piece of physical theatre. Any book of imagination is always going to be a problem in bringing it to the stage with belief, especially such a well-known book, where the audience probably already have a preconceived notion of the various bizarre characters. “Alice” is a particular challenge since the stories, apart from describing Alice’s imaginary journey, are really a series of unconnected episodes. As such, there’s little continuity to the story, little sense of drama or character development and no build-up to a final climax, just a rather tame cop-out where the heroine simply wakes-up to find it was all a dream. And that’s fine – because it works well as a children’s book – but translating it for the stage is a different matter and fraught with difficulty.
In particular, there is the theatrical challenge of creating a visual image of the many weird creatures from the book; creatures with human characteristics, such as a Caterpillar sitting on a mushroom smoking a hookah, a disappearing Cheshire Cat with an enigmatic smile, a Mock Turtle dancing the lobster quadrille, a Dormouse, Mad Hatter and March Hare, not to mention a White Rabbit and a little girl who both grows and shrinks in size.
Hence, a far from easy task, but this YAT adaptation, both written and directed by Asha Gill, has taken on the challenge with an inventive re-imagining of the classic story. The fresh twist in this interpretation is that Alice, now a bored fifteen-year-old, is a modern-day computer gamer, who falls inside her video game and has to move through the various levels and different rooms to escape. Asha has developed a script which is accessible both to children and adults, but the biggest obstacle in any adaptation is how to represent the fantasy on stage. It’s also knowing what scenes are feasible to develop and which should be cut or edited. So, no dancing Mock Turtles, and no croquet matches using flamingos to hit hedgehogs. This still leaves plenty of episodes to explore and Asha has created a fast-moving script, with a strong narrative, good dialogue and much action. Also, perhaps a moral to resonate with parents – that while children may play computer games to get away from their family, here, they play games to get back to their family.
Overall, the real test of the production’s believability lies with the cast, and here the young ensemble of thirteen players are well-disciplined and largely avoid falling into the easy trap of over-acting. Catching the eye are the Cheshire Cat (Kavi Noonan), the Caterpillar (Gio Nickson) and the Mad Hatter (Freya Broe). But the real star of the show are the graphics created by Joe Olney. The back wall is transformed into a gigantic imitation computer screen on which silhouettes of the cast are projected but, more innovatively, computer commands. Displayed are the familiar images of the rotating egg-timer, various stop-start commands and many of the technical terms associated with the computer world of control-alt-delete. When Alice is confronted with the “drink me” glass, the huge back wall screen displays the message, “Will you take the drink? Yes? No?” All very clever graphics, plus the support of an original soundscape also composed by Joe Olney.
The opening scene very much sets the mood for the production by creating a sense of the avant-garde. There is silence, a bare stage, flooring with a black and white motif, house lights still on, and one-by-one the ensemble slowly walk on, face the audience and hold a red A4 size card. The actors appear impatient, bored, puzzled – the audience feel uneasy and slightly uncomfortable. Then the house lights dim, and we are soon plunged into Alice’s journey beyond her computer screen. The actors move in a seemingly effortless choreography of precision, there is a rabbit in a rush, a frantic Cheshire cat and a vaping caterpillar among the many colourful creatures as Alice explores the various levels of her game.
And yet, by the time the Mad Hatter’s tea party arrives, the fresh originality and novelty of the adaptation seem to falter and wear thin. In the shorter second act, the flow becomes even more disjointed, culminating in a rather confusing climax with an energetic Queen of Hearts (Alfie Kennedy). Finally, there was an unusual curtain call, where the cast and creatives had their names and photographs projected on the back wall screen – all perfectly fine, except with the stage lights dimmed, none of the actor’s faces could be seen when taking their bow: a tad confusing.
There is perhaps a fine line to be drawn between pretension and inventiveness, and this production sometimes straddled those lines. There were moments of originality but also moments where interest lapsed – and while the stage was filled with eccentric characters, there was little opportunity for the audience to empathise with any of them. Without doubt, an extremely clever concept, originally staged with imaginative graphics, but ultimately there were elements missing – perhaps cohesion and substance – perhaps a lack of drama or meaning – or simply the lack of any memorable killer punch.
Nevertheless, this progressive production was a perfect vehicle for exploring the talents of this young theatre group, of ages sixteen to twenty-five, and clearly much of their enthusiasm and hard work was on display. A worthy achievement and full of innovations and fresh ideas.
Originally published at Alice in Wonderland | Mark Aspen
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